McKinley Grapevine

Good Morning Everyone!

Welcome to The Healthy Gut Series! Emily Beard, our McKinley Healthy Living intern has done a fantastic job researching gut health and has put 8 very informative emails together to help you understand your gut and why it’s so vital to keep it healthy.  We put our heads together to figure out what we thought would be most important to address but if there’s something we’ve missed, feel free to reach out through email and we would be happy to research it!  We hope you find these emails helpful!

Let’s start off by addressing a very simple, initial question:

How Does Our Gut Affect Our Immune System/Health?

The food we eat not only feeds our fat cells, but also determines what kind of inner garden we are growing in our guts. This garden is filled with bugs that determine more about your health and your emotional and mental well-being than you ever imagined! Getting your gut bacteria healthy is one of the most important things you can do to get and stay healthy. If your bacteria are sick, so are you!

Your gut wall houses 70 percent of the cells that make up your immune system. You might not attribute digestive problems to be related to allergies, arthritis, autoimmune diseases (irritable bowel syndrome, acne, chronic fatigue), mood disorders, autism, dementia and cancer, however, many diseases seemingly unrelated are actually caused by gut problems.  

If you want to fix your health, start with your gut. Gut health literally affects your entire body.

Consider the important jobs your gut performs regularly, including breaking down food, absorbing nutrients, keeping out toxins and producing nutrients. That’s a lot of work! For optimal immunity, detoxification and nourishment, your gut must function seamlessly. 

For more information visit: http://ecowatch.com/2015/02/26/gut-health-boost-immune-system/

Just to give you a sneak peek of what to look forward to throughout the series:

     Part 2: How Do We Keep Our Gut Healthy?

     Part 3: The Body’s Detox System and What a Cleanse Does

     Part 4: What to Expect When You Do a Cleanse & 10 Types of People Who Should NOT Do a Cleanse  

     Part 5: Types of Cleanses

     Part 6: Working Out On a Cleanse

     Part 7: Foods That Support a Healthy Gut

     Part 8: Probiotic Guide  

Good Morning Everyone!

Several of you have had your Doctor’s visit and have received the results from your biometric screening.   Were your cholesterol levels where you thought they might be?  One of the reasons why it’s so important to have your cholesterol checked is because high cholesterol isn’t something you necessarily feel physically.  While high cholesterol can lead to dangerous things that you can feel like a heart disease or a stroke, you don’t FEEL your levels raising or lowering.  PLEASE have you cholesterol checked even if you have not elected your benefits with McKinley.  For those of you who have not had your Doctor’s visit yet, I have attached the revised Biometric Screening form for you to take with you to your visit J

How to lower your total cholesterol:

• Moderate – vigorous intensity cardio
• Eating specific foods (see below)

One of the best ways to start lowering your total cholesterol is with consistent moderate cardio.  The American Heart Association recommends an average of 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic activity 3 or 4 times per week.

A few examples of moderate-intensity aerobic exercises include:

• Jogging
• Biking
• Playing tennis
• Going for a brisk walk

*Remember: When asking yourself how hard you should be working during a workout, just remember it’s moderate if you can talk but not sing and it’s vigorous if you can’t say more than a few words without taking a breath!

Facts about LDL and HDL Cholesterol:

LDL cholesterol is considered the “bad” cholesterol because it contributes to plaque, a thick, hard deposit that can clog arteries and make them less flexible.  Lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol can prevent heart attacks and reduce deaths from heart disease in both men and women. It can slow, stop, or even reverse the buildup of plaque.

HDL cholesterol is the well-behaved “good cholesterol”.  It cruises through the bloodstream and removes harmful bad cholesterol (LDL) from where it doesn’t belong.  High HDL levels reduce the risk for heart disease, but low levels increase the risk.

• HDL cholesterol levels greater than 60 mg/dL are GOOD, below 60 mg/dL can put you at risk.
• LDL cholesterol levels less than 130 mg/dL are GOOD, greater than 130 mg/dL can put you at risk.

http://nihseniorhealth.gov/highbloodcholesterol/whyloweryourldl/01.html

Foods that help lower LDL cholesterol:

1. Oats – switching up your breakfast to contain two servings of oats can lower LDL cholesterol by 5.3% in only 6 weeks.
2. Red Wine – high-fiber Tempranillo red grapes, used to make red wine like Rioja, have a significant effect on lowering cholesterol levels. Studies done on individuals who had high cholesterol going into the study saw a 12% drop in LDL after drinking red wine.
3. Salmon and fatty fish – replacing saturated fats with omega-3s like those found in salmon, sardines, and herring can raise good cholesterol as much as 4%.
4. Nuts – studies have proven that people who eat 1.5 ounces of whole walnuts 6 days a week for 1 month lower their total cholesterol by 5.4% and LDL cholesterol by 9.3%.  Almonds and cashews are other good options. However, while nuts are heart healthy, they’re also high in calories, so practice portion control!
5. Tea – black tea has been shown to reduce blood lipids by up to 10% in only 3 weeks and also helps reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
6. Beans – adding ½ cup of beans to soup lowers total cholesterol, including LDL, by up to 8%.  Try black, kidney, or pinto beans; each supplies about one-third of your daily fiber needs.
7. Chocolate – this powerful antioxidant helps build HDL cholesterol levels.  Remember to choose the dark or bittersweet kind because compared to milk chocolate, it has more than 3 times as many antioxidants, which prevent blood platelets from sticking together and may even keep arteries unclogged.
8. Garlic – found to prevent blood clots, reduce blood pressure, and protect against infections along with lowering cholesterol.  Try for two to four fresh cloves a day of this powerful cholesterol fighting food.
9. Olive Oil – full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), which lower LDL cholesterol.  Use it to make your own salad dressings, marinate chicken and fish, or roast vegetables.
10. Spinach – contains lots of lutein; ½ cup of a lutein-rich food daily also guards against heart attacks by helping artery walls “shrug off” cholesterol invaders that cause clogging. Look for bags of baby spinach leaves that you can use for salads or pop in the microwave for a quick side dish.
11. Avocado – a great source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, a type of fat that may actually help raise HDL cholesterol while lowering LDL.

http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/how-lower-cholesterol-naturally

7 Ways to Raise HDL Cholesterol:

1. Get moving with exercise – to raise good cholesterol levels, aim for a mix of activities, including aerobic and resistance training. And that’s good news, because variety is likely to keep you interested. 
2. Quit smoking – smoking cigarettes makes it easier for cholesterol to collect in your blood vessels and makes it harder for HDL to do the job of sweeping it out.  Research shows quitting has a direct effect on raising good cholesterol.
3. Cut your sugar intake – the more calories that come from added sugar, the lower the HDL levels.  People with the highest levels of good cholesterol had diets in which sugar accounted for just 5 percent or less of their calories.
4. Pay attention to purple foods – simply add HDL-raising food sources like plums, grapes, purple cabbage, eggplant, and raspberries to your diet. Plus eating more fruits and veggies (in addition to whole grains) will increase your fiber, which has been shown to help control overall cholesterol levels — aim for about 25 grams a day.
5. Eat fatty fish – include healthy portions (total calories from fat should be less than 30 to 35 percent daily) of fatty fish, olive oil, and other heart-healthy non-animal-based sources of fat at least once or twice a week to raise good cholesterol
6. Nibble dark chocolate – eating 50 grams of dark chocolate (about 1.5 ounces) daily can improve the antioxidative action of HDL, or good cholesterol.  Just don’t overdo the chocolate because excess weight can also complicate cholesterol management. 
7. Sip red wine – Low to moderate consumption of alcohol has heart-healthy benefits, and red wine is the beverage most often recommended for people who want to improve their HDL. One 4oz glass of wine is appropriate.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/high-cholesterol-pictures/how-to-raise-hdl-cholesterol.aspx#01

Have a great Monday!!! 🙂

Good Afternoon Everyone!

February is here and so is Heart Month for the American Heart Association!!!  We will be raising money for the AHA and participating in the Heart Walk this year which will take place in May – more details to come.  For now, I would like to invite you all to join us this Friday February, 5^th 2016 for National Wear Red Day to show your support and help raise awareness for heart disease…all you have to do is wear…RED!

Did you know?

• Heart disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States.
• Cardiovascular diseases claim more lives than all forms of cancer combined.
• In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 34 seconds.
• About 720,000 people in the U.S. suffer heart attacks each year. 
• Direct and indirect costs of heart disease total more than $320.1 billion. That includes health expenditures and lost productivity.